Blood Bonds

Part 25 - The Excitement Keeps "Dragon" On

Two days had already gone by without anyone finding any signs of Ray. Several members of the Resistance had gotten involved with searching for the armadillo's younger brother, but so far nobody had found anything.

Sonic and Mighty took a brisk stroll through the woods with a device Tails the fox had designed specifically for mapping out areas of underground space in hopes of finding any hidden bases of N.I.T.E.'s. They were within earshot of Metropolis city traffic, and the background roaring sound of speeding cars and occasional honking somewhat eased Mighty's senses as he and Sonic kept their eyes locked to the device's blue screen. They were following what seemed to be some sort of cave system, when something large and red fell out of the trees to their right. The two Mobians looked over in surprise at what appeared to be a bright red fruit the size of a watermelon, split in half on the ground. Its gooey green insides oozed out on the leafy forest floor as the two looked up at the tree it had fallen from. The tree was covered in the alien-like fruit, and they caught sight of an odd little creature peering down at them from up in the branches. It chirped in fear when it realized they had spotted it and hid behind one of the bulbous melons.

"Hey, is that..." Sonic stepped forward as he realized the tree had three more of the same creatures hiding up in it. Footsteps brought his attention back down, and the blue blur was surprised to see Whisper the wolf approaching him, unsure of herself.

"Hey, Whisper!" He waved before pointing up at the tree. "Are these... Wisps of yours?"

The aliens suddenly darted out from the tree and hid behind the honey-colored wolf. She smiled shyly and nodded.

Sonic scratched his head as he peered around her shoulder at the frightened extraterrestrials. "They're the Dark Arms, aren't they? Huh, how'd they get separated from Eclipse?"

At the sound of their caretaker's name, the fledglings became intrigued and inched out from behind Whisper, eyeing Sonic curiously. Cyzer floated closer to the blue blur and emitted a low-pitched zapping sound. Whisper listened to her Wispon translator, which she had encoded the Dark Arm's language into, and said quietly, "He's asking if you know where Eclipse is."

"Actually, I do." The hedgehog's answer excited the aliens so much that they began to shriek in excitement and zip about wildly through the air.

Whisper smiled at their joyous celebration before noticing the armadillo watching from a distance. She immediately shrunk back, uncomfortable in the presence of a stranger.

Sonic noticed, looked over his shoulder, and with a start remembered his reason for being there in the first place. "Oh! Whisper, this is Mighty the armadillo. Mighty, this is Whisper the wolf, or better known as the Guardian of the Battlefield."

"Nice to meet you. I'd shake your hand if I weren't holding this." Mighty smiled warmly, gesturing to the bulky thing he held in his hands.

At Whisper's lack of response, Sonic smiled for her sake. "She's not big on handshakes anyway, so it's alright."

Mighty took it in stride. "We're looking for my little brother, Ray the flying squirrel. He's yellow, about yay height, been missing about two days; have you seen him or any sign of him around?"

Whisper shook her head as the Dark Arms settled down. Blurk beeped something in an excited, longing tone, and Whisper glanced over at him.

"He's asking if you could maybe take them to Eclipse?" She asked in a small voice.

Sonic grinned enthusiastically. "Sure! You wanna come with-?"

At that moment, the ground beneath them trembled and a hollow, echoing roar sounded all around, echoing through the forest.